Various systems and methods have been used to detect biological signatures such as pulse rate, heart rate, tremor, etc. in biological organisms. Generally, these systems and methods require contact with the organism in order to function. Thus, these methods and systems can be unsuitable for applications in which contact with the organism is undesirable, such as with burn victims and in defense applications.
Laser Doppler Vibrometers can remotely measure vibrations in biological organisms, and have been used in applications such as the measurement of blood flow. However, LDVs have several drawbacks. First, they must use scanners to collect images from a large region of an organism. Second, they use lasers, which can potentially be harmful to the subject. Third, they are generally limited to measurement of small amplitude vibrations, rather than the relatively large amplitude, low frequency, vibrations that are of biological interest. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to develop a method of remotely measuring vibrations in biological organisms that can image an entire organism or region of an organism, that is safe, and that can detect relatively large amplitude, low frequency vibrations.